2013-2014 Oceania & Asia – Boomerang

The Hills of Tawain…

BDK — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 06:22:43 +0000

And…

BDK — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 10:24:35 +0000

…Back to Hong Kong, my 8th “visit”. I think I’ve got HK down.

Leave tomali for Fairbanks. If only I could have gone Tokyo direct to Fairbanks it would have been 8,000 miles and 15 flight hours shorter:

HND-HKG, HKG-LAX, LAX-SEA, SEA-FAI
11,551 miles

HND-FAI
3,522 miles

The Big Trees!

BDK — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 11:20:51 +0000

I read about these two 1,500 year old cyprus trees in this park. Being a big Big Tree fan I figure they are worth a look. Especially since Tokyo sustained massive and devastating bombing during WW2—how’d they survive?

Turns out, they didn’t. The “trees” in the park are part of a gate built in the mid-70s from trees cut down on some distant mountain. It’s a nice gate, the biggest such gate in all of Japan, I’m told. I guess we’ll just grow a couple more 1,500 year old cyprus trees…

Means Streets of Tokyo

BDK — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 11:11:34 +0000

Two weeks in Japan and this is the only graffiti I’ve seen. Probably if I hung around more dicey neighborhoods I’d see more. Maybe.

Also, a fire extinguisher. Just attached to a random fence. No lock. Just, there.

Back to the 1960s?

BDK — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 10:12:36 +0000

A pedestrian bridge over a highway. Notice what’s missing? (No fence or cage keeping pedestrians from jumping or tossing stuff.)

Take Me Out…

BDK — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 10:09:36 +0000

Attended a Japanese preseason baseball game between the Giants and the Fighters. Fighters over the Giants 3 to 3 in 2 hours and 53 minutes. A very well played game. I sat in reserved seating for the first six innings then wandered about for the last three. Ended up by the bleacher bums—definitely the best place to sit to get the true ambiance of a Japanese ball game. Another advantage to the bleachers is the lack of armrests on the seats. The regular seats are at least an inch narrower than a US seat. Some notes:
3 and 2, 2nd and 3rd– no running on pitch

“Dust” on field shows ball impact. Really weird. Every time the ball hits the ground this splash of dust pops up.

Stadium security blows whistles on foul ball. Then goes and checks if person is ok

All concession sellers working stands are young girls

Active pitcher plays catch by dugout to keep arm warm

They Sell hard liquor in the stands

No 7th inning stretch

No national anthem until end(?) of game.

They’ll yell banzai! When scoring a run. No shit—BANZAI !!!!

Some photos. People in line for souvenir store, the Hall of Fame, cheerleaders on the field, very good hot dogs on a good bun, mustard ok, nowhere near as good as Cleveland Indians mustard!

A Good Idea

BDK — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 01:02:23 +0000

Fire exit sign down near the floor. Smart.

High Tech

BDK — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 13:28:13 +0000

I try and carry as little as possible when I travel. This year I added this “black box”. Sometimes hotels don’t have wireless but do have Ethernet. This gizmo allows me to create a WiFi signal from an Ethernet port. As all I carry is my iPod touch or iPhone an Ethernet port is useless by itself. I also have found that even hotels that have wifi, if they have Ethernet as well, my self-generated wifi is often far faster than the hotel supplied wifi. So, I’ve added this item to my kit.